The Rightful Heir (25 page)

T
HE SETTING SUN
lit the clouds red and orange. The team had traveled a long way. Zeus
could see the treetops of Persly's Woods on the horizon. They left the pasture and tread across flat rock. Clementine remembered the last time he'd approached limestone sticking out of the ground. This time he made sure they steered clear of massive thorn bushes. His unfortunate taste for blackberries had gotten him into trouble before. Then he heard a frighteningly familiar noise.

“Whoops!”

Clementine stopped and backed up against the band of travelers. “Shhhh! Did you hear that?” He looked around, then pressed his ear to the rocky ground.

“Clementine, what are you doing?” Jonah asked.

“Shhh! I'm listening for goats.”

Malcolm became alert.
“Goats!
The wild goats?”

“Yeah, I thought I heard their
whooping
noise.” His long, black ear was on the ground.

“Clementine, that was me,” Mac said. “I accidentally stepped on Zeus's foot.”

Zeus looked puzzled. “You did?”

Clementine straightened in relief. “Oh…
good!
I don't want another encounter with those insane beasts.”

“What do you mean?” Felix asked.

“King Benjamin, Paco—he saved our kingdom—and Roscoe, you remember
Roscoe
, right?” Clementine didn't hide his
irritation.

“Uhhhh…” Felix didn't know how to react to the pig's question.

“You know, Roscoe, who abandoned us to go look for those crazy goats instead of helping us—”

“Oh yeah, him!” Felix barked.

“Well, these wild goats were going to make us their slaves and were about to kill Roscoe in a jousting battle—”

“A what?” Mac asked.

Clementine sighed. The thought of explaining everything was too much for his patience. “Never mind. Just keep your eyes open, alright?”

B
ENJAMIN ENTERED THE LIVING ROOM,
where his mom and dad were watching TV. He wasn't sure if his dad knew about his skipping school and he sure wasn't going to bring it up. “Dad, can you help me with my homework assignment?”

“Sure, what do you need?” Tom sat up in his recliner. Carol looked up from the magazine she was half-reading.

“Well, I'm making a Trojan horse…a small one. Only it will be a, um…
Trojan pig.”
He looked down at the floor embarrassed.

Tom laughed out loud with a few snorts mixed in. “That's great! I love it!” Carol smiled.

“So I was wondering if you had anything that isn't huge or too small that I can use for it?”

His father leaned back in his recliner and stared at the ceiling. “Ya know, I think I may have something perfect for you. Are you going to have your own little people inside of it?”

Benjamin gulped. “Um, yeah, or whatever else I can put in it.”
Like a ton of fireworks!

“Let's go out to the shop and see if I still have some barrels. There may even be one you can open up.” Tom got out of his chair
and put on his slippers. His son followed him to the tool shop behind the house. Benjamin had forgotten how creepy it was in the dark. Tom had kept all his dad's old tools and knick-knacks through the years. They scavenged the entire shop but saw no sign of a barrel.

“Let's look out back.” Tom grabbed a flashlight.

Walking through the weeds, Benjamin stubbed his toe on a large rock. “Ouch!”

“What happened?”

“Oh, I just hit my foot on…Pugsly's grave,” Benjamin finished softly.

His dad sighed deeply. “Good ol' Pugsly.”

Benjamin stared quietly at the rock his dad had placed. The last light of dusk shone there. He stayed, staring at the plot, while Tom searched the yard. The silence was broken. “Aha!” Benjamin looked over to see his dad in silhouette, holding a medium-sized barrel over his head. “I've found it!”

“W
HICH WAY
, F
ELIX?
” Clementine asked under the dark trees of Persly's Woods.

“South.” The self-assured fox trotted on.

The pig addressed the rest. “We go south, gentlemen.” He charged in the direction opposite the one he and Malcolm had taken the last time they'd journeyed together.

They ran through the eerie forest, overwhelmed by the noise of cicadas and locusts. Even Felix had forgotten how loud they were. They went deeper in. Malcolm and Jonah were a bit spooked as they moved past the trees. The memory of the giant snake skin they'd seen earlier was now more vivid than ever.

“Hey, Malcolm,” Jonah whispered. “What if that monster comes to this part of—”

“Shhh!” The raccoon held a claw to his mouth. “Let's not scare the group any more than they already are!”
Or me either
.

Zeus walked in
front of Mac in the brigade. The Doberman felt like the king's bodyguard. “Pretty night, Zeus,” Mac said. Zeus looked up through an opening in the trees. Evening stars twinkled back.

“Yes it is, Your Majesty.”

Jonah snorted.
“Your Majesty
, ha!”

Mac stopped and turned to him. “What is so funny about that
…peasant?”

“Peasant? Why am I a peasant?”

“Uh, well, because you don't have a home…in fact, you never really did from what I understand, and you look horrible, and um…oh yeah, you're underneath me!” Mac insulted Jonah with a fake smile.

Jonah stared angrily into his brother's eyes. “Aaaghhh!” The pug charged his brother and pounced on top of him. Jonah grabbed Mac's foot in his teeth and bit down.

“Owww!” Mac squirmed and bit his brother's hind leg in retaliation.

Everyone watched in shock as the two little pugs angrily wrestled and fought there in the dark forest. Finally Zeus had enough. “Okay, okay, that's enough! Get off him!” The pugs stopped fighting. Jonah looked up at the large dog's head, inches away. Zeus growled.
“…Now!”

Jonah took his time, trying to preserve his dignity. Zeus barked loudly at him. Malcolm watched the Doberman chastise his little friend until he, too, had enough. “Okay, dog. We all know that you're big and mean, but stop bullying my friend here.”

“Oh, that's rich!” Mac got to his feet. “Especially coming from a ‘coon!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Malcolm said defensively. Clementine and Felix remained calm as they watched the feud.

“Oh, gee. Let
me think.” Mac tilted his head and looked up at the trees. “It means that you ‘coons have always thought you could do whatever you wanted to and get away with it. You're quite the hypocrite, telling my bodyguard to back off.”

“Huh?”

“Oh yeah, I can't even count the times you guys would tip over my masters' trash cans during the night and leave garbage all over the yard. And sometimes they'd blame
me
for it!”

“How could you have gotten up on those trash barrels?” Jonah asked.

“Oh, shut up!” Mac snapped.

“Hey, don't you tell my friend to shut up!” Malcolm cried.

“Step away, ‘coon!” Zeus growled.

“Alright, everybody! That's enough!” Clementine stood on a fallen tree branch in the moonlight. He hopped off and made his way over to them. “Now we have a job to do, and I don't want to hear any more arguing over who is the
rightful
king. You got it?” He tossed his head at the two pugs staring at the ground.

Mac mumbled under his breath, “Well, when I'm king I'm gonna kick out all raccoons and brothers—”

“Mac!” the pig shouted. Zeus almost defended Mac but decided against it.

Felix sighed and walked on. The thought of introducing all his friends to their new family was looking grim.
If this is how they're going to act, maybe the others would rather stay here in the forest with that giant snake…Hey! Why is the forest quiet?

Crack! Crack!
They jumped at the movement in the bushes, then raced to hide behind a large stump…and waited for whatever it was to come out. It was dead silent.
Crunch! Crunch!
Something that smelled horrible walked across the dead leaves. Then an armadillo came out of the bushes in the moonlight, unaware of their concern. They moaned in relief, and Mac started
to laugh at the silliness.

HISSSSSSSSSSSSS!
The shadow of a gargantuan, black snake appeared from the bushes next to the armadillo…and, just like that, the armadillo was gone. The monster slithered into another group of bushes. Its tail took forever to disappear, like a never-ending train.

Every eye behind the log bulged in terror. Clementine gulped the air and was just about to emit a horrified yell—
“Shhhhhhh!”
They looked up. In a tree branch directly above were four black-masked faces. Malcolm instantly recognized his friends, who put their fingers to their mouths and shook their heads, not making a sound. The group remained helpless on the ground, at the mercy of the monstrous snake. One of the raccoons mouthed, “Don't move!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE